Foot scooters, such as in-line foot scooters, are very popular children's toys. Millions of in-line foot scooters are sold per year. An in line foot scooter typically includes a pair of in line wheels that are separated one from the other by an intervening foot board. A single vertical guide shaft, with handlebars attached thereto, is positioned at a front end of the scooter. The vertical guide shaft is rotatably associated with a front wheel axle so as to allow a user to steer the scooter by moving the position of the handlebars and thereby changing the direction of movement of the front wheel. Typically, in-line foot scooters are designed to be collapsible.
Although in line foot scooters are collapsible, and therefore, relatively easy to store, for instance, in a cupboard, the collapsing process is laborious and time consuming. Many users, therefore, simply leave the scooter lying flat on the ground or lean it against a wall, where it may slip and fall to the ground. Such storage practices are problematic because when lying flat on the ground, scooters are hard to see and easy to trip and/or drive over, thereby presenting an unseen hazard that could cause physical damage to a person who trips and/or a vehicle that drives over scooter. Further, because of the movable association between the vertical guide shaft and the foot board, picking up of the scooter off of the ground by the handlebars often results in the foot board rotating with respect to the guide shaft, which rotation can cause injury to the person picking up the scooter as the footboard may swing out and hit the unwary person. To date it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a scooter stand for storing and/or supporting a scooter in an upright, non-collapsed configuration.
Bicycle stands, however, for supporting and/or storing a bicycle in an upright position while the bicycle is not in use are well known in the art. There are several different types of well known bicycle stands. For instance, many bicycles come equipped with a kick stand attached to the frame of the bike. A kick stand is a bar-arm element that is pivotally mounted to the rear of the bike, which kick stand can be deployed by causing the bar-arm element to swing below the frame of the bicycle in such a manner so as to engage the ground and thereby support the bicycle while the bicycle is not in use.
Kick stands can be problematic, however, because they add weight to the bicycle, which added weight may detract from the performance of the bicycle. For this reason, many bicycle manufactures do not equip the bicycles produced with a kick stand. Additionally, for those bicycles that come equipped with a kick stand, many users end up removing the kick stand so as to reduce the weight of the bicycle and increase its overall performance. The absence of a kick stand, however, results in the problem of where and how to store the bicycle while it is not in use. Further, even when a kick stand is included, due to where it is typically mounted on the bicycle, the bicycle can still easily tip over causing damage to the bicycle and/or surrounding article. For these reasons, when the bicycle is not in use many bicycle users lean the bicycle against a wall, where it could slip and fall to the ground, or simply rest the bicycle on the ground, thereby creating a hazard because the prone bicycle is difficult to see.
Other types of bicycle stands include a foundational member to which a pair of extended upright brackets is attached. The brackets are spaced apart from one another so as to form a wheel-slot within which a front wheel of a bicycle may be inserted. In this manner, a front wheel of a bicycle may be inserted into the wheel-slot and the bicycle may thereby be stored in an upright position. These stands, however, suffer from several draw backs in that they are bulky, require installation, and are difficult to move and/or store when the stand itself is not in use for storing a bicycle. Further, because these stands are solely designed to store bicycles, they are not well suited for storing a foot scooter, such as an in line foot scooter.
What is needed, therefore, is a light-weight, collapsible stand that is configured for supporting one or more sports accessories, such as one or more of a bicycle and/or a scooter, in an upright position so as to store the one or more sports accessories while not in use. The subject disclosure presented herein meets these and other needs in the art.